Art of converting hydrocarbon.



w;, HALL. ARTOF CONVERTING HYDROCARBONI.

APPLICATION FILE '0 .MAY 24; 1913- I I 1 ,2613930. Patented Apr. 9,1918.

o ndenser UNITED STATES PATENT oEEIo WILLIAM A. HALL, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., A SSIGNOR TO MOTOR PETROL COMPANY, OF ZBBATTLEIBORO, VERMONT, A CORPORATION OF VERMONT.

ART OF CONVERTING HYIDBOOABBON.

I Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Apr. 9, 1918.

Application flied May 24, 1918. Serial No. 769,610.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I WIILIAM A. HALL, a

citizen of the United tates, residing at New York, in'the county of New York and State of New York, have invented or discovered certain new and useful Improvements in the Art of Converting Hydrocarbons, of which the following is a specification, reference being had therein to the accompanying draw- 11] v lhis invention or. discovery relates to the art of converting hydrocarbons for the purpose of obtaining, from a relatively heavy hydrocarbon oil, a lighter (lower specific gravity) and more volatile product. Var1- ous attempts, involving several different processes, have heretofore been made 1n this direction, but, so far as is known to me,

these attempts have been only partially successful, and have not been practised largely in a commercial way. I have, however, discovered that a relatively light and-volatile hydrocarbon spirit may be readily produced from a relatively heavy hydrocarbon liquid by a simple process, as will hereinafter appear.

The present invention or dlscovery 1s carried into efi'ect by withdrawing a certain percentage of the carbon from a heavy hydrocarbon, thereby producing a lighter (lower specific gravity) and more volatile product. This result is secured by passing a mixture of heavy hydrocarbon oil and water (which latter may be in the form of steam) through a highly heated chamber with restricted spacings so that its passage is retarded to an extent sufficient to create a considerable pressure, preferably about 150 pounds to the square inch. In thus assing this mixture through the highly heated chamber, as stated, the whole mixture becomes vaporized, and a considerable amount of carbon is deposited on the walls orsurfaces which obstruct the passage of the vaporized mixture, so that the residue,

when condensed and thereby separated from the fixed gases, will yield a relatively light hydrocarbon liquid product.

While the relative proportionsof-oil and water may be varied more or less, I find that particularly good results may be secured if about one pound of water is employed for each two or two and one-half pounds of oil (being weighed as liquids).

The accompanying drawing illustrates somewhat conventionally, in sectional elevation, an apparatus by which the present invention or discovery may be carried into efl'ect.

Referring to the drawing, 12 denotes a receptacle, of any. suitable form in cross section, and which is divided, by a screen 13, into receiving and converting chambers 14 and 15, respectively. The receptacle 12 is inclosed by a casing 16 which retains the heat and afi'ords a heating chamber 17 below the said receptacle. In the said heatingphamber is located a heating burner 18 to which gas is supplied through a ipe 19. The oil to be converted is discharged under suitable pressure into the receiving chamber 14 through a pipe 20 communicating with wholly filled with a suitable metal in small pieces which by being more or less compacted together, will serve to obstruct the flow of the hydrocarbon through the converting chamber, and thus produce back pressure, and these small pieces of metal will afford numerous surfaces on which a portion of the carbon in the vaporized mixture is deposited in solid form; Preferably these particles of metal will be in the form of nickel balls or cubes, as nickel neither oxidizes nor carbonizes at the high temperature (about 600 C.) which is employed, but it will be understood that forms other than balls or cubes may be employed, if

desired. v

In carrymg the lnventlon into effect a serles of decarbonlzers or converters such as that shown in the accompanying drawing.

will be so arranged that they can be connected together and the oil will be passed from one to another, as by passing it through a pipe, as 22, communicating with the converting chamber 15 to a chamber cori paratively low.

responding to the receiving chamber 14: oil

' another decarbonizer or converter, and thus the mixture may be successively treated to withdraw any desired amount of carbon therefrom and thus secure aproduct of any desired lightness and volatility.

in thus passing the liquid hydrocarbon through a series or these converters a considerable amount oi carbon is deposited in solid form on the surfaces oi the fragments or small pieces of metal with which the converting chambers are supplied, and the process may be carried on until the particles of metal in the converting chamber become so clogged with carbon that it will be necessaryto throw it out of operation tor cleaning, which may be done simply by flooding with steam or water, as the solid carbon is in the term of loose soot, Thus in using series oi these converters the connections may be such that some of them may be cut out, for the purpose of cleaning, while the others may be continued in operation The hydrocarbon spirit produced as here inbeiore described, and which is oi a lower specific gravity and lower boiling point than the original hydrocarbon liquid before treatment, contains compounds of the ethylene or olefin series, although before treatment the liquid hydrocarbon was com osed princi pally of members of the para 11 series. 'lhe lower speciiic gravity and lower boiling point oi the treatedhydrocarbon liquid is in my opinion due entirely to its loss ct carbon. in other words, the essential :t a-= ture oi the present improved process consists in lightening/lowering of the specific gravity, and also the boiling point of a hydro= carbon liquid by withdrawing a portion of its carbon, in contradistinction to such previous processes as consisted. in. lightening the hydrocarbon liquid by increasing its percentage of hydrogen, or by causing a chemical reaction to take place between the oil and the elements of water This con verted hyclibcarbon spirit is, as will be un= derstood, suitable -ior use in internal cornbustion engines, and as it is produced by a relatively simple and easily practised process the cost oil the product will be com- As to the rate of how or" the vaporized oil and water through the mass of catalytic metal, it is impossible to lay down any hard and test rule, except that the rate of flow is preferably such as to give a pressure of about 150 lbs. per square inch, at a temperature oi 600 C. The oil vapor and steam may be in contact with the nickel for about two to three minutes, giving excellent re sults.

The mineral oil operated u' on maybe a crude (Califor a oil, of a specific ravity about other e ssucn Pennsylvania, @hio, Canadian, Texas oils,

or stripped oils may be employed with good results.

v Alter passing through one or more converters oi the term illustrated, the vaporous products are led to a condenser, where light oiland water are condensed, and after settling, the two are separated by decantation, in a manner well known in the petroleum industry.

llt will be noted that in the above descrip tion I have referred to the use oi nickel in the chamber 12, with which the steam and oil vapor are brought into contact, lit will be noted that nickel used in this connection has a very diil'erent effect from that which would be produced iii metal were employed, which would be oxidizable under the existconditions, for example iron. At the temperature stated, iron will decompose steam, in the presence ofoil vapor, to pro duce an said of iron, and some free hydro gen will be produced. however, the pieces oi iron-would soon become coated with a layer of iron oxid, which would prevent further action oi the iron and steam upon each other. With niclrel, however, the metal does not'becorne oxidized, in the presenceot oil vapor. iron which has heretofore been suggested in a somewhat similar process, was used as 'a chemical agent, an agent suitable for the reduction of steam (oaid of hydrogen) to term hydrogen (with the consequent for mation of orid of iron), In my process, however, the nickel does not have any action of this character, but acts as a catalytic agent. 1 am familiar with the U. S, Patent to bload, No. lllhdfid, dated September 27, 1910, and 1 make no claim to anything shown in said patent.

Having thus described my invention or discovery l claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent:

1, The herein described process of re ducing the specific gravityot a hydrccan hon liquid, by the extraction ot a portion of its' carbon content in solid elemental form, which comprises subjecting the hydrocarbon, in vaporized form, to the simultaneous action oi heat and steam, in the presence of a catalytic metalwhich is nonoz'idizable and non-carbcnizable in the presence of steam and oil vapor, while at a high temperature,.andwhile under a pressure substantially above atmospheric.

2, The herein described method oi producing a relatively light hydrocarbon liquid, which comprises decomposing a relatively heavy hydrocarbon liquid, and extractingv solid" elemental term, a portion of its carbon content, by subjecting said relatively hydrocarbon to a temperature. up under a pressure in such a process.

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1,261,930 v H g the prelslenci of water in the form of steanii in presence of two witnessesin a 0 am or conta'ming numerous sma pieces of a catalytic metahvhich. is non- WILLIAM BALL 5 oxidizable under these condmogs, and sub- W1tnesses: I v

sequently condensmg the vapomzed resldue A. W. PERKINS,

of hydrocarbon and Wat'm'. M. E. Runyon.

materially abovo atmospheric, applied in Intestimony whereof I afiix my signaturo, 

